Film Review: Priceless (2006)

According to IMDB.com, Priceless (Hors de prix) was released in 2006, but it only arrived at our local indie theater two weeks ago. Oh well. Ce n’est pas importante. I’ve been watching so many dreary (sad, not bad) war movies of late as research for my novel that I leaped at the chance to see this romantic comedy at the Avalon. Plus, B. and I hadn’t been on a “real” date in so long, we were anxious to do something unrelated to work, household maintenance or even trip-planning, so it was with much lightheartedness that we skipped (okay, drove) over to the cinema and paid for our $8/pp tickets. The fact that the theater had just recently completed its much-needed renovation was the icing on the cake: we had the chance to sit center-row up in the balcony. Sure, the seats are creaky and wrapped in faded red velvet in desperate need of a reupholstering, and the old, old wood floors squealed and groaned with every step, but no matter. It’s the perfect place for a romantic date, stale popcorn, real curtains over the screen and scratchy soundtrack and all.

I daresay that Priceless makes for an excellent “date” film, as its rather unexpected turns throughout the story keep it from devolving into the weary formulas that seem to plague most Stateside romantic comedies. Like all really good romances, Priceless doesn’t try and pretend that Irene and Jean might not make it after all; of course they do, but they earn every second of their happy, if ambiguous ending.

Audrey Tautou is a luminous Irene, a darker and far more cynical version of Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. (She even has a little black dress, albeit with a much deeper neckline than Hepburn ever wore. Let’s just say that the costume design department probably went through a lot of double-sided tape during this shoot.) She’s resolute about her singular goal in life: to marry a very wealthy man. Forget looks, charm or even sexual prowess; her target is squarely on the pocket and its bulging contents, and I’m not referring to the front pocket.

During a brief sojourn at a luxury hotel in Biarritz, she meets Jean (played with wonderful, goofy bewilderment by Gad Elmaleh). There’s nothing especially arresting about the man himself; he’s a lowly bartender trying to get through the night shift. When he falls asleep on the couch in the elaborate sitting room adjacent to the bar, an insomniac Irene walks in on him and mistakes him for just another rich, paying customer. Jean, of course, does nothing to disabuse her of this idea, and before you know it, they’re tearing up the sheets in the penthouse.

She departs the next day with her gray, wrinkly patron, and Jean spends the next year pining for her and clinging to the memory of their one-night stand. Naturally, she returns exactly a year later, looking as lovely as ever, only this time she’s engaged and sporting a fist-sized rock on her ring finger. She and Jean hook up for one last flight, but right about this time is when every good screenplay must throw in the challenge that tests the fragile relationship blooming between this unlikely couple: enter the looming shadow of The Awful Truth.

Shoes fly, muted screams are unleashed, and oh, yeah, Irene’s fiance is let in on the story and promptly kicks her out of his life, leaving her with just the clothes on her back. Over the next few days and weeks, Jean sacrifices everything — I’m not kidding you here, the man gives up everything – to win her heart, but she won’t have any of it. When he finally does lose it all, he discovers the one remaining part of him that he can still surrender for Irene, only for a very steep price.

Sound tragic? Naaaah. I did say romantic comedy, didn’t I? The story skirts some rather touchy subjects, the kind that American filmmakers wouldn’t dare hint of in their screenplays — even Blake Edwards toned down Holly Golightly’s character; she wasn’t nearly as refined in the original novella as Hepburn portrayed her on film — but to their eternal credit, Tautou and Elmaleh carry their roles with light humor. Irene could have easily been a pathetic character, but Tautou’s rendition of her elicits sympathy and understanding. You know that she knows she’s grasping at something that will probably always remain elusive, but she chases it all the same, believing in her skills of seduction, if not in herself.

Elmaleh as Jean is a dream, a lovestruck, grown man who, despite his innocence, recognizes that nothing is more important than love. Like Irene, he’s willing to risk everything for it, including Irene herself. He may not necessarily understand her, but he intuits enough to know that she’s worth all that he can give, down to the last euro, as he pursues her across France. He’s not a man to be pitied, even when his life appears to be in shambles. Rather, he’s the kind who’ll simply dust himself off and try again, grabbing at whatever life preserver circumstances toss in his direction without caring about the consequences. You just know that he’ll be all right, and that he’ll get the girl in the end. The only question is how.

The movie runs for nearly two hours, but the story moves so quickly, so effortlessly to its sweet, unsentimental finale that it seems much shorter. This isn’t a couple of whom you might immediately think, Oh yes, this is happy ever after, but you wish for it all the same.

Related posts:

1. Book & Film Reviews I’ve reviewed….well, a lot of books and films here on...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.